A former writer, editor, broadcaster and municipal politician, Terry now volunteers in support of several life-affirming non-profits, including the Talitha Koum Society, Blooms into Rooms and Signal Hill.

"Reason is always a kind of brute force; those who appeal to the head rather than the heart, however pallid and polite, are necessarily men of violence. We speak of 'touching' a man's heart, but we can do nothing to his head but hit it."--G.K. Chesterton

Monday, April 22, 2013

Coquitlam Happy with E-Town Hall Turnout

The City has issued a news release about Saturday's successful E-Town
Hall meeting, Here's the full text, below:

COQUITLAM, BC, Monday, April 22, 2013 – Coquitlam's first E-Town
Hall Meeting went off without a hitch over the weekend. The meeting, which went
an extra half hour to answer all the questions, saw about half its inquiries
come from online participants.
"By all accounts, the E-Town Hall went very well," said Coquitlam
Mayor Richard Stewart. "Engaging the public is a challenge in every city.
By adding electronic and internet-based outreach, we can engage more residents,
and can get higher levels of public input into important issues. People have busy
lives, and we need to adapt to make sure that we can engage them where they
are, and on their schedules."
The initiative, which was brought forward by Councillor Terry O'Neill, allowed
Coquitlam residents to submit questions through email, Twitter or Facebook. The
answers were then presented to Council in the meeting and answered via the
webcast online.
"I am very pleased the public responded so positively to Council’s E-Town
Hall meeting. As our population grows and becomes increasingly diverse, it is vital
that we continue to seek new and better ways to facilitate such two-way
communication with voters," said Councillor O'Neill. "We all want a
healthy democracy, but democracy cannot thrive without the nourishment of
meaningful citizen engagement."
Coquitlam residents who were unable to watch or attend the meeting on Saturday
can watch the archived footage from the webcast online at
coquitlam.ca/webcasts. Moving forward, City staff will be reviewing the process
to determine whether additional changes or adjustments could be made to the
process for future Town Hall Meetings.
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For more information, contact:
Dan McDonald
Manager Corporate Communications
604-927-3019
dmcdonald@coquitlam.ca